


Waning Moon

by lilysquill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fanfiction, Hogwarts, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilysquill/pseuds/lilysquill
Summary: A Wolfstar and Jily fanfiction.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter One

Remus boarded the train once again; it was the beginning of fifth year Sirius and James were not to be found. As for Peter, he normally didn’t show up until halfway in the train journey with his arms full of sweets.

Remus shouldn’t have worried because within the next twenty minutes James and Sirius ran past his compartment about seven times screaming all sorts of variations of his name. Moony, Remus, Moons, Moo, Rem, Re, Lupin, Moons McMoon, the names that Sirius would come up with were ridiculous. Not once did Remus think to open the compartment door and stick his head out or identify himself in any way.

If they were going to make complete fools of themselves, Remus would not get involved, especially not this year. No, this year Remus was a prefect. How he managed to do that was a whole other question. What McGonagall or Dumbledore saw in him, he didn’t know. He couldn’t even maintain control over his friends, clearly. Though could anyone really, really control them? Many tried, of course, several got close but true control was impossible with those two idiots.

Eventually, James and Sirius did calm down and actually look inside each compartment and found Remus.

The second they stepped inside Remus noticed their red, flushed faces and panting breath. They had clearly not trained as rigorously during the holidays and would need to train hard if they wanted to win the Quidditch Cup this year.

As the began to set Peter finally showed up in their compartment, much later than he usually did. Turns out that the trolley lady had less of the sweets that Peter really enjoyed, so as a solution he went around from compartment to compartment collecting sweets from people. Somehow it actually worked and indeed his arms were, as usual, filled with sweets.

As he sat down next to Remus, James reached over ruffling his hair, glad to see his buddy once again. James had dearly missed his friends during the holidays.

Hogwarts was insight once more and James let out a large squeal of glee. Remus noticed how Sirius posture relaxed just that bit more as if he was really relieved to see it again.

Remus often noticed small details like this about all his friends, more so Sirius as he was more fun to watch. James always did the same things, run his fingers through his hair, it seemed like a nervous habit.

Though he didn’t only do it when he was nervous, he did it all day, every day. Peter was just boring, well maybe boring was a bit harsh, but he didn’t seem to do much unless he had to. He found the strangest ways to do the littlest amount of work possible. It was quite impressive, now that Remus thought about it, really inventive.

Sitting through the sorting ceremony was tedious, though it seemed to get shorter and shorter every year. Just another reminder of the impending war looming over the Wizarding World.

The amount of noise that came from James and Sirius’ mouths anytime a young wizard or witch was sorted into Gryffindor was unbelievable. The looks Professor McGonagall would shoot their way every time were borderline terrifying. She clearly wasn’t impressed with the racket that the boys were making. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was loving it and would clap extra loudly along with them. Talk about Gryffindor house pride.

Heading up to the dorms Remus just let Lily take over, he wasn’t too keen on all the first years staring at his face all at once, he dealt with that enough as it was.

Lily fully understood this, she was actually one of the first to figure out that Remus was, in fact, a werewolf.

Remus and Lily were really good friends who loved to study together in the library together and had done so since first year.

Remus just followed along behind Lily just like all the first years, as if he was trying to hide amongst them. Obviously, he was completely unsuccessful in this as he towered over all of them, in fact, Remus tended to tower over most people, he was a very tall person, a tall clumsy person.

About halfway to the common rooms, Remus was suddenly pulled from the group by two pairs of arms, James and Sirius of course. And so, Remus joined James, Sirius and in taking shortcuts so that they could reach the dormitories first.

This group of friends known as the Marauders knew many, many shortcuts and lesser-known passages all around Hogwarts. Some even led off of the Hogwarts grounds! They were currently in the process of crafting a map, a map that would show all the people at Hogwarts whether they be students, professors or visitors, they would show up.


	2. Chapter Two

Or at least, that was the point. It wasn't quite at that stage yet. Currently, they were making sure all the passages were on there and Remus and James had begun to tinker with some charms to get the map to do as they pleased.

Finally reaching the common room, obviously, there was no one here yet and it was nice and quiet. Unfortunately, that peace didn't last long as a certain redhead came bursting through the portrait.

"Remus Lupin!! Where did you go?! I'm not the only Prefect! There are two of us for a reason!" Lily shouted at Remus as all the first years flowed into the common room wide-eyed and terrified.

Remus sighed and stood up walking over to Lily to calm her down, not that he got there as someone jumped in front of him.

"Lily, my darling, you are looking so fierce today and gorgeous too!"

"Shut up Potter, have I told you I'm not interested?! No, go bother someone else. Shoo."

"Ok my love, just for you," James said as he bowed and backed away... into a little coffee table falling backwards onto his bottom. Sirius immediately burst out laughing at the sight and if you listened closely you could hear Peters quite but squeaky laugh too.

Remus just shook his head at his friends' antics and finally made his way to Lily, who was still fuming, if not more from James' little display of affection. Lily clearly wasn't impressed, not in the slightest.

Remus awkwardly turned to the first years and re-introduced himself, to which he immediately expected questions about his appearance. But no such thing happened, he had a sneaking suspicion that this had to do with Lily and for that, he was very grateful.

"Uh, I'm not sure if Lily introduced me or not, but that is in fact not the case, I am Remus Lupin. Yes, I am actually a prefect -shut up Sirius- no I don't know how I became a prefect. Especially not with those fucking idiots that I call friends."

"Remus! Control your language! These are first years!" All the first years along with Sirius and James laughed at Lily berating Remus.

"Yeah Remus, you can't say words! You should know better. I am very disappointed in you." Sirius said shaking his head.

"I'm not sure what those words are Padfoot, would you care to enlighten me?" James continued.

"Oh you know, those words. Like shit, fuck, motherfuc-" Sirius was interrupted by Lily yelling.

"Not you too Black!!"

"It wasn't just me!" Sirius protested.

"Fine then, Black and Potter!" Lily angrily corrected.

"Mate, did you hear that? She said your name!" Sirius nudged James.

But looking over, James had already 'passed out' on the floor.

Following on a few days from that and so many first years had been getting lost, yet none of them dared to approach Remus. Lily was beginning to get fed up with all the first years coming to her for help and she was really regretting being made a prefect. It was only day four of being a prefect and she was already fed up.

Though her solution was to send them all away to Remus. However, this solved nothing. As still, no student approached Remus. Lily got so annoyed with the whole ordeal that she walked over to Remus with the first year and forced the interaction, much to the scared first year's disagreement.

This was the turning point for all the first years as they realised how kind and helpful Remus actually was. And slowly over the course of the next few weeks more and more first sought Remus' help.


	3. Chapter Three

It was a Saturday afternoon and James and Remus were sitting down in a corner of the common room, hidden away. They were working on what would become the Marauders Map.

They had come into a difficult situation, the map was drawn up. All the passages, the great hall, the map even extended as far as Hogsmeade.

All that was left to do was to figure out how to get people to show up on the map, and not only should they show up, the map should follow them.

"Remus, mate. I'm sure there's a better way. Are you sure we need to invent a spell?!"

"Yes James, we do."

"But, are you sure you've checked all the books?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"Well, I'm not sure!"

"Why don't you go check them then?!"

"You know I can't do that!"

"Oh right, because you and Sirius just had to be idiots in the library one too many times and really fucked up the library. You really pissed off Madame Pince."

"So? Doesn't bother me. What do I even need a library for anyway?"

"Uh, learning how to make up spells for one but also researching and assignments, just to name a few!"

"But why would I need a library for those things when I already have you?"

"Ugh, James, for the one-millionth time I'M NOT A WALKING ENCYCLOPAEDIA!!" Remus burst out, standing up and leaving James sitting there dumbfounded.

James day and started at the seat that Remus had just vacated. Had he gone too far? Again? wondered James. Probably, what was he going to do now?

A few days had gone by and Remus was very good at holding a grudge so for mealtimes the group was split up. Sirius obviously stayed by his best mates side, James. So Peter, who didn't mind which friend he stuck with, he loved both equally, sat with Remus. Though you could see the sadness on Peter's face, that his best friends weren't sitting together.

Peter was trying his hardest to get Remus and James to makeup but it seemed pointless.

"James please apologise to Remus." Peter pleased to his friend.

"I've tried, believe me, I've tried."

"Well, clearly you haven't tried enough because you are sitting here sulking and Remus is over their being moody."

"I don't sulk, as for Remus being moody, is that even anything new at this point?"

The conversation went pretty similar between Peter and Remus.

"No Peter, he has taken it too far this time. He offended my books!"

"Ok, now you're just being a drama queen."

"Tell that to James."

"Why would I? You're the one being a drama queen. They're just books!"

Remus' chair scraped against the floor making a loud noise as he marched away, muttering to himself, "Just books? Just books?".

Though as Remus' new grudge was against Peter, who also offended the sacred books, he was now once again best mates with James. Remus was incapable of holding a grudge against his friends for more than a few hours. He just continued to pretend for the sake of watching James struggle to apologise to him was very amusing.


	4. Chapter Four

Halloween was coming up in a couple of days and James and Sirius had the amazing idea for the whole squad to coordinate costumes. They were extremely excited.

"James, James!! I've got it! We can dress up as Professors!!" Sirius yelled running into the dorm, where James, Remus and Peter were all sitting on their beds. Peter eating lollies as per usual, Remus was reading a book and James was just lying there staring up at the ceiling look bored out of his mind.

"Sirius, oh thank Merlin you're here now. These two are being so boring."

"James, did you not just hear my amazing idea?"

"Wait, dressing up as professors, isn't that a common idea? What if we take it one step further and dress as the Hogwarts founders?"

"Hmm, yeah that could work. But how would we decide who's who?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? Peter is Helga Hufflepuff, Remus is Rowena Ravenclaw, you'd be Salazar Slytherin and I'd be Godric Gryffindor. Duh!" James rolled his eyes.

"Wait, no. I'm not being Slytherin. Absolutely not!"

"Why not mate? It's only a costume for one night."

"No, I'm not doing it."

"Guys shut up!! I'm trying to read here!" Remus interrupted, annoyed.

"Well we are trying to come up with an idea for our Halloween costumes and it would be great if you could contribute!" James retaliated.

"Fine then!" Remus responded.

"Ok, tell us then." Sirius continued.

"Shhh, Pads I'm thinking. Something you don't do often, clearly." Remus was annoyed and when annoyed he could get defensive and a little rude.

"Moony, I do think. How else do you think I can up with that idea in the first place?"

"You overheard it from some others talking about it."

"Damn! How'd you know that?"

"Well, I'd like to think I know you pretty well after being friends for so long."

"You don't know everything," Sirius answered with a wink.

"Ok, back the Halloween costume ideas please!" James butted in.

"Right, yes," Remus responded. It was silent for a short while until Remus spoke up once again. "I know, let's dress up as Queen."

"The queen?" James questioned. "How are we all going to be the Queen, that's not very fun."

"No," Remus chuckled. "The band."

"Oh, yes, I remember. Those people you always listen too. They sing a song about Bicycles, don't they?"

"Yes, Sirius, that's them." Remus was laughing now.

"Ohhhhhh, those people." James finally realised.

"I call dibs on being Freddie Mars!!!" Sirius shouted.

"Mercury, Sirius. Freddie Mercury." Remus corrected.

"Whatever, you know who I meant." Sirius waved him off.

"Well, who should I be?" James asked.

"Well, you could either be Brian May, Roger Taylor or John Deacon."

"Remus, this is useless. I don't know them. Just tell me what instruments they play. Jeez!" James rolled his eyes again.

"Okay, okay! Brian plays the guitar, Roger plays drums and John play the bass guitar."

"Drums! I want the one that plays the Drums!! I could hit stuff. I've always wanted to hit stuff since I don't get to play Beater." James yelled excitedly.

"Okay so I'm Freddie Mercury and James is Roger Taylor. Remus, I think you should be Brian May and then Wormtail." Sirius turned and pointed at Peter and yelled, "You're going to be John Deacon!"

"Padfoot calm down! Mate, we can't let anyone else hear our ideas." James tried to shush Sirius.

"It's fine, it's fine. They probably don't even know who Queen is. It's muggle stuff." Sirius answered matter of fact-ly.

And so that's exactly how the Marauders rocked up in the Great Hall on the night of Halloween for the feast. Peter as John Deacon, James as Roger Taylor, Remus as Brian May and of course Sirius as Freddie Mercury. Each Marauder was equipped with an instrument which had been transfigured from ordinary objects by James.


	5. Chapter Five

It was now about a week after Halloween, and yet another full moon was approaching, Remus was vividly becoming more and more exhausted as the days crept closer and closer. Seeing this decline in Remus' energy strongly motivated the other Marauders to complete their Animagus transformation. James, Sirius and Peter had been working hard in order to achieve the Animagus ability to help their werewolf friend during those tough nights.

They'd been working on the process since third year, now finally in fifth year, they were ready for one of the final steps.

One of the most physically challenging, to keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for one whole month. Whilst this seemed impossibly hard, the three boys were determined to do it.

And so, the boys put the leaves in their mouths, scrunching their faces up in disgust at the taste. Hopefully, they would only need to do this once.

On went the days, each boy had become much quieter, yet somehow the teachers didn't think anything mischievous was going on. All the teachers but McGonagall.

McGonagall knew something was going on almost immediately, as Sirius stopped drawing all over his pages and had become to actually pay attention. Sirius had even begun staring less at Remus. Out of the four boys, Remus hadn't changed in the slightest, and so McGonagall was becoming suspicious what the other three boys' intentions were.

Two weeks go by and the boys are just over halfway through the month, all three boys still have the mandrake leaves in their mouths despite the many close calls.

Due to this, the boys decided to celebrate making it so far without having to restart. Yet, they celebrated too soon, because not more than a few hours later and Peter was eating some lollies and due to that fact that he had a foul-tasting mandrake leaf in his mouth, the lollies weren't tasting the best. Without thinking he spat out the mandrake leaf and ran off to wash out his mouth when he returned, he sat down once again and continued to eat his lollies. James and Sirius just sat there staring, dumbstruck. Peter had failed his first mandrake left. Peter would need to start all over again.

"Peter what did you do?" James almost yelled.

"What do you mean? I'm just eating lollies just like always." Peter answered.

James stayed silent waiting for Peter to realise what he had done.

"OH! I just spat out the leaf! James, oh no, what am I going to do. I've failed." Peter said worriedly.

"It's alright Peter, we all make mistakes." James tried to calm him down.

"But it just tastes so gross! Is there any way that we could change the flavour?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Uh, I'm not sure, but I could try?" James took out another mandrake leaf that he carried around in his pocket. He was onto his fourth leaf, not that the other boys needed to know that. James had a habit of getting too excited and that tended to end up with him either spitting out the leaf or swallowing it.

So, James set to work trying to alter the taste but not any other properties of the mandrake leaf.

If any other properties were altered the leaf would not work the same and Peter would not be able to become an animagus.

Eventually, James achieved it, or so he thought. The only way they'd know for sure was after the month was up and they were ready for the first transformation into animals.

"James, can you please restart with me, so I don't do this alone?" Peter requested.

"Yes, of course, mate. Let's ask Sirius too." James responded.

Though when asking Sirius, they got a very different response.

"No, I am not starting this again. And no, I don't want a different leaf. I am doing this for Remus, he suffers so much every month. I only have to suffer for a month, and this isn't even painful. So, no. I will not be starting again. Remus is well worth it." Sirius spoke loudly.

"Ok, ok mate. I just wanted to ask. No need to get all hot and bothered." James laughed.

"I wasn't getting all hot and bothered," Sirius muttered in return.


	6. Chapter Six and Seven

The month was finally over and it was time for the moment of truth. Were the boys successful in becoming Animagi?

The boys were gathered around the back of the greenhouses, hidden from view. They'd also put up silencing charms just in case.

James suggested he go first, but before that, they would try and guess which animal each marauder would become.

"I think I'll be something big, like a lion or-" James spoke.

"Nah mate, you'll be a hippogriff or something. Wait no! I've got it! You'll be a flobberworm!!" Sirius yelled excitedly. It was a good thing they put up a silencing charm as an extra precaution.

"What do you think Remus?" James asked curiously.

"I don't know, why don't you just transform and then we'll find out," Remus responded a little fed up with their antics.

"Ok ok, I will. But, we haven't heard what Peter thinks yet." James responded.

"Well, um. I'm not sure, why don't you just do what Remus said." Peter suggested.

And so James transformed into his Animagus form.

"Oh, dear!" Peter said shocked.

"Oh, deer indeed," Sirius said with a big smirk. He immediately began thinking of all the puns he could make with that.

It was Sirius that begged to go next and so he did.

Sirius didn't wait for the others to guess, though James, Remus and Peter we're guessing. The last thing Sirius heard before his transformation was complete was Remus saying.

"He is quite dog-like actually. Imagine if he was a dog."

To which James and Peter burst out laughing at the thought. Yet once they regained their composure they immediately began laughing, harder this time.

There in front of their noses sat a big, black, shaggy dog, wagging its tail.

Lastly, it was Peter's turn.

James was under the impression that Peter would be a Guinea Pig or a hamster. Sirius teasingly said he got more of a pigeon vibe. Remus chose to just remain quiet.

Once Peter was finally ready he transformed and then all of a sudden he was gone. Peter's animagus was a rat so he disappeared right into the grass.

"Peter! Peter! Where'd he go?" James yelled, Sirius, joining in on the search. Whilst Remus stood behind watching the pair act like idiots.

Eventually, Remus decided to tell them for fear that they might step off Peter. "Guys, he's a rat. He's just beside you on the grass if you just look down."

"Oh, there you are Peter. I was beginning to think that you'd transformed into a bird and flew away so quickly that we missed it." James explained. "But look you're a little rat. I was pretty close with my guesses."

~~~

The three marauders had been transforming at any chance they had in order to get used to being in their animagus forms. James had even suggested that they try to sleep in their forms, however, after realising how uncomfortable it would be as a stag, he quickly dismissed that idea.

The full moon was upon them once again, but this time everyone was ready. James, Sirius, and Peter would be joining Remus for the first time during his transformation. The marauders headed out onto the grounds of Hogwarts, towards the whomping willow.

Peter was first to transform, and he ran forwards and touched the special spot which made the tree freeze. Everyone went into the tunnel and through to the Shrieking Shack.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Peter asked.

"Well, Remus, what do you normally do in here?" James turned to Remus.

"I normally just stay in here the whole night." He responded simply, not feeling the need to say much more.

"Okay, so that's what we'll do as well then," James answered.

"So, Remus, you're telling me that for years you've been staying in this small, enclosed building all night? Not going outside to run around in the forbidden forest or anything?" Sirius questioned, shocked.

"Yes, it's safest for everyone."

"No, it's not!" Sirius almost yelled.

"What do you mean no? If I stay in here no one else gets hurt by me." Remus was confused.

"It's not safest for you! Have you ever seen how you look when we come to find you in the hospital wing?" Sirius was yelling now.

Remus was stunned, he never thought about it that way, he never thought anyone cared enough. But here in front of him were his three best friends, some would even say they were his brothers. With those boys how could he ever have thought that no one cared? Remus thought.

Sirius had calmed down after being reminded of Remus's insecurities. "Of course we care mate." He could see what Remus was thinking, to him Remus was very easy to read, especially right now.

"Yes. Remus, we really do care." James spoke in agreement.

Peter sat there silent but nodded to show his agreeance.


	7. Chapter Eight and Nine

It had been a long night of keeping Remus company as a werewolf. It was the next morning and the boys were walking Remus back to the hospital wing, taking the less-travelled routes to avoid questions.

Upon reaching the hospital, James, Peter and Sirius were asked to leave by Madam Pomfrey as she was ready to help Remus. Though this time around there were a lot less injuries as throughout the night the other boys stopped Remus from scratching and attaching himself.

Peter and James were standing over by the door waiting for Sirius to come with them. Sirius wasn't willing to leave Remus alone in the hospital wing despite Remus assuring Sirius that he's fine and not to worry.

"My classes aren't that important anyway. I can stay with you." Sirius argued.

"No Sirius, you need to go to class. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Remus assured.

"Fine then, but I promise to be here as soon as class is over, ok?"

"Ok Sirius, I'll see you soon then."

Sirius remained standing there, not moving.

"Sirius, you can go now. Please go to class." Remus said.

Sirius looked over to the door to see that James had gone, though Peter still stood there waiting. "Yeah ok," Sirius spoke quietly, still in thought. Once he reached the door, he turned to Peter and said, "where did James go?"

"He gave up on waiting for you, he didn't want to have McGonagall annoyed at him nor did he want to miss Transfiguration. You know how he gets with Transfiguration." Peter answered.

"Oh, ok then. Let's go then, Minerva doesn't need to be any more mad at us than she already will be. But yes, James is such a big Transfiguration nerd." Sirius chuckled.

Throughout the day Sirius paid much more attention in class, taking as many notes as he could on behalf of Remus.

His plan was to go to Remus immediately after class and bring Remus up to date on what had happened in class that day. Not only that but to also generally help him study whilst he regained strength after the full moon.

James and Peter both returned to the common room, not having noticed that along the way, Sirius had disappeared off to the hospital wing to visit Remus just like he promised he would.

~~~

That night Remus stayed in the hospital, as per usual, but what was unusual was that he was not alone. An exhausted Sirius was seated in the chair next to Remus's bed.

Madam Pomfrey was making her rounds before retiring to her own bed and as she walked past the bed of Mr Lupin, she was surprised to see Mr Black there as well. He must have fallen asleep whilst helping Mr Lupin study and catch up on the material that the fifth years had learnt that day in each class.

The next morning Remus awoke to find Sirius still there, he hadn't left. Sirius had slept the whole night in an uncomfortable chair, just to spend time with Remus. The thought made Remus's heart flutter with gratitude for the amazing boy next to him. Remus reached over and gave Sirius a gentle tap on the shoulder to wake him up.

"AHHH!" Sirius screamed, startled.

"Shhh! SHHHHH! Sirius!" Remus hushed, raising his eyebrows.

"What was that for?" Sirius continued to talk loudly.

"Sirius! Be quiet! We're in the hospital wing for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh," Sirius took in his surroundings, coming to the realisation that he was indeed in the hospital wing. "I forgot."

"I can tell." Remus chuckled, having woken up more.

Just at that moment, Madam Pomfrey came up to the pair to give Remus his last potions and send him on his way. As Madam Pomfrey had many other patients to tend to, she thought to make the best of the situation and enlist Sirius as Remus's personal carer.

"Mr Black." Madam Pomfrey began.

"Yes." Sirius interrupted eagerly.

"I want you to give Mr Lupin his potions and then you are both free to go to class." Madam Pomfrey finished.

"Of course, Poppy." Sirius accepted.

"That's Madam Pomfrey to you." She corrected.

"Whatever you say, Poppy." Sirius waved her away, getting to work giving Remus his medication.

Madam Pomfrey walked away smiling, despite Sirius' disregard for referring to her formally.


	8. Chapter Ten and Eleven

When Sirius and Remus walked into Charms that morning, all the heads turned in their direction.

"Ah, Mr Lupin and Mr Black, there you are. Quick, quick, have a seat." Professor Flitwick cheered happily, as per usual. Sirius and Remus quickly rushed to get seats next to James and Peter.

After Charms class the four boys walked out together, James and Peter immediately pulled Remus and Sirius to a secret passageway to interrogate them about where they were.

Sirius had never missed breakfast before, Remus not being present was understandable because of the full moon. Sirius, on the other hand, had some questions to answer.

"Sirius, where were you?" James began.

"Yeah, you didn't come to breakfast and I know you love breakfast." Peter continued.

"Uhh well, you see the thing is," Sirius stumbled. "Wait, what makes you think I love breakfast?"

"Well, I love breakfast, so I just thought you would too," Peter said nervously.

"You're wrong, dinner is by far superior." Sirius paused before continuing, "Nah, I'm just kidding mate. Don't worry about it." He finished with a chuckle.

"Oh." Peter sighed in relief.

"Anyway," James interrupted. "Back to the more important matters, why didn't you come to breakfast Sirius? Come to think of it, you didn't come to the dorm room last night either." James said suspiciously.

"How do you know I didn't come back to the dorm room? I could've just come back late and woken up early." Sirius tried to reason.

"As if." James scoffed.

Remus was thoroughly enjoying Sirius being interrogated about the situation, he continued to watch James break down every excuse Sirius gave for not being in the dorm room. Sirius was doing a terrible job at convincing James, he normal smooth persona was all flustered, Remus noticed. Nothing ever got Sirius this flustered, Remus thought.

Sirius had stopped talking as he saw Remus just staring at him. Remus wasn't taking his eyes off of him. Sirius knew that people liked to stare at him, what wasn't to stare at? But this was unusual for Remus, he didn't spend hours staring at him as many girls would do. That weirdo, that attractive weirdo, wait attractive. Remus is attractive? Oh, he is. Does that make me gay? That makes me gay, doesn't it? Maybe that's why it never really made sense to me when James would go on and on about Lily, she's not even that good-looking. If I'm gay, I'll have yet another thing to piss mother of with. Ha. Sirius's thoughts rushed through his head in a moment of realisation.

~~~

Eventually, Sirius gave in, he wasn't getting anywhere and the best thing to do was just to come out and say it straight. Or gay, he added in his thoughts.

"Or gay?" James repeated with a look of confusion on his face.

"Uh, what?" Sirius chuckled nervously.

"You just said 'or gay'. Why?" James answered.

"Oh, you know, I was just so happy spending time outside of the dorm room. That's why I said 'gay'." Sirius said simply as if that answered everything.

"But what were you doing out of the dorm room?" James said with a smirk on his face, he'd managed to trap Sirius.

To which Sirius cracked and blurted out everything that had happened, well almost everything. From helping Remus revise on that day's schoolwork, to falling asleep in the hospital wing, to giving Remus his potions the next morning.

"So, Poppy let you, actually let you give Remus his potions?" James asked in disbelief. If wasn't often when Madam Pomfrey trusted students to do that, especially not the marauders.

"Hey, hey. Only I can call her Poppy. It's a special thing for colleagues only. You wouldn't understand." Sirius corrected.

"Now, now Sirius, she exactly let you call her Poppy either. And you're not her colleague, you're an apprentice at most." Remus reminded.

"Okay, fine she didn't let me call her Poppy. But just you wait, it will happen. I will make sure of it." Sirius declared.

"I don't doubt that," Remus responded, laughing.

And so, the weeks when by and the boys focused on preparation for their OWL's. Well, Remus did, with Lily and the occasional company of Peter. The other boys, mainly James and Sirius, just continued to goof around as normal.

During the times when they weren't studying, they worked hard on completing the Marauders Map. They were so close to completing it, just a few more spells to cast to make sure that even new visitors would appear on the map.


	9. Chapter Twelve and Thirteen

The boys had put so much hard work and dedication in the map, and it was finally time to test it out. They had just added all the finishing touches and collectively decided that James got to do the honours as he had put the most work into it. James having the best transfiguration skills and that ultimately what the map used.

"C'mon then James! Get to it." Sirius spoke excitedly.

"I'm getting to it." James countered.

Yet James was still looking at the map, as if deep in thought.

"James is everything alright, you still haven't done anything," Peter questioned.

"Yeah, yeah," James waved him off. "I was just thinking, what would happen if someone where to find this map."

"Well as long as they don't know the correct words 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' then nothing will happen," Remus answered.

"But I feel like something should happen-" and before James could explain his thoughts Sirius interrupted.

"What, like burst into flames?"

"No, no, absolutely not! That would ruin all our hard work. No, I think it should like, insult the person, wouldn't that be really funny?" James began to chuckle at the thought of Snivellous finding the map, well it would be an empty piece of parchment for him.

"Imagine Snivellous finding the map and it brutally insults him. That would be fantastic!" Sirius spoke with glee.

"That's exactly what I was just thinking." James high-fived Sirius cheerfully.

"Ok, we get that you want to find more and more ways to insult Severus, but can we actually test it now," Remus said impatiently.

"James, do you know a Severus? I've never heard of him. I only know a Snivellous." Sirius smirked.

"No, me neither. Never met a Severus to my knowledge."

Both boys started laughing heartily.

"Ok, can we do the map now?" Peter asked timidly.

"Yes, boys, Peter is right." Remus voiced again.

"Ok, ok, calm down. Didn't I say I was getting there?" James reminded.

"You did," Peter confirmed. "But that was like 20 minutes ago."

"Was it really?" James spoke.

"Yes!" Remus and Peter both yelled with frustration.

"Wow, mates." James put both his hands up in surrender.

"Then I suggest you do it Prongs. We don't want to upset a werewolf, especially during his time of the month." Sirius prompted, smirking.

And so James laid the map down on the table in front of him and spoke the magic words. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. The map began to be filled in with rooms and hallways and one by one they saw each student and teacher alike appear on the map.

The four boys cheered in happiness that their creation was successful.

~~~

The map was a success yet one thing remained. They had yet to add the charm to insult whoever were to pick up what would appear to be an empty piece of parchment. The boys left it up to Remus to charm the map to do that as he was the best in their group at Charms.

Each boy had their own talents, James and Remus's talents just happened to be most related to helping create the map, being transfiguration and charms respectively. Sirius was better with Astrology and Peter, somewhat surprisingly, was best at Herbology. He just knew how to work with plants, he was lucky enough to be a natural green thumb.

Due to James and Sirius pestering Remus constantly about how long it would take to charm the map to insult people, in particular another student, Severus Snape. Because of this, Remus managed to have it complete in only three days of fiddling.

The obvious next step was to test it. Sirius had the brilliant idea of setting it up for Lily to find it, Peter and Remus agreed and James begrudgingly gave in.

So the boys had set it up ready to go and no more than a few seconds later Lily noticed it and being the tidy person she was, she picked it up.

Upon picking it up, words began to appear on the parchment.

Mr Moony would like to let Lily Evans know that she is a sweet and kind person and advises her to not read further.

Mr Padfoot needs Lily Evans to continue reading for his enjoyment.

Mr Wormtail agrees with Mr Moony and wishes Lily Evans a wonderful day.

Mr Padfoot thinks that Lily Evans is kind to most but unnecessarily feisty to him, but he thoroughly enjoys it when she is feisty to all but him and reminds her to keep reading.

Mr Moony reiterates his previous statement of ignoring the rest of the message.

Mr Prongs would like to say that Lily Evans is insane...ly beautiful and darling, did you do something different with your hair today?

The marauders watched as Lily began to read what was written, Remus and Peter began shaking their heads as Lily continued to read despite their warnings, to Sirius's utter enjoyment and glee.

James began blushing as he saw a look of confusion grace over Lily's face as she read the lines from Mr Prongs. Sirius began laughing hard, which Remus was quick to silence with a silencing charm, lest he gives away their hiding spot.


	10. Chapter Fourteen and Fifteen

For the many days after Lily found the Marauders Map, the other three boys made fun of James relentlessly, especially Sirius.

The atmosphere in the common room was growing more and more tense as the exams loomed closer. The OWL's were almost upon the fifth years and it was showing. Remus and Lily were spending more and more time in the library studying, James often tried to join in on these sessions much to the displeasure of Lily.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and Remus and Lily were in the library studying as usual. No more than 15 minutes into their session, Sirius came bursting into the library and sat down, stole Remus's study material and began to study. Lily looked up shocked at the sudden disruption. Remus simply got out other books and continued to study as if this as a normal occurrence.

"Remus, aren't you going to say something?" Lily exclaimed.

"No, it wouldn't change anything anyway. It's easiest just to let Sirius take them and move onto studying something else." Remus sighed.

"What you say that like it happens often?!"

"It does." He said simply.

Sirius looked up casually, "Yeah, Lily! I do study!" he said, emphasising her name dramatically.

"You are such a drama queen. If you're going to stay here, then actually shut up and study." Lily declared.

"What do you think I'm doing? You're the one making a ruckus."

"Argh! Black! Do you have any idea how much you frustrate me?"

"Yes, clearly. Though I'm sure it's not as much as James." Sirius said with a wink.

"Don't wink at me." Lily rolled her eyes.

"You have to admit that's true though."

"Fine, it's true. Now let's study."

"I haven't stopped."

"Argh."

From then on Sirius began to join in on Remus and Lily's study sessions, occasionally though, only occasionally. Lily made sure of that. She was not ready to spend that much time with Sirius yet.

Sirius though remained optimistic. He believed it wouldn't be long before Lily succumbed to his charm and allowed for him to hang around. Sirius needed more time with Remus away from James and Peter anyway.

~~~

James had begun to notice that Sirius seemed to go missing at the same time that Remus and Lily would go study together. He was becoming very suspicious of Sirius as it was becoming more and more frequent, so he decided to bring up his thoughts with Peter.

"Hey Peter, have you noticed Sirius disappearing more and more around the same time that Remus and Lily go study together?"

"Uh, I suppose so?" Peter answered confused.

"Don't you think it's weird? Why would Sirius disappear?" James reiterated.

"Maybe he's studying?"

"Pfft, Wormtail, don't make laugh! As if Sirius, the Sirius Black that I've known since first year would willingly go and study." James laughed.

"Well, I don't know, it's worth considering."

James just laughed.

Peter gave up and left the dorm room, heading down to the library to prove himself right. He was sure that Sirius was studying, no matter how unlikely that may seem, it was the only logical answer.

Upon reaching the library, Peter found the three sitting together and actually studying. Whilst Peter expected this, it did not mean he was any less shocked to see Sirius sitting there studying peacefully and Lily didn't even seem bothered by his presence. He rushed back to Gryffindor Tower to get James and show him the proof.

Peter reached the dorm room out of breath and pantingly explained what he saw. James was not convinced so Peter dragged to the boy all the way down to the library. Though when they reached the library and Peter pointed to the direction where the three had been sitting, only Lily was left. Remus and Sirius had disappeared to merlin knows where, the two of them had been known to disappear occasionally.

James turned to Peter dramatically rolling his eyes, "you dragged me all the way down here to see Lily Evans studying? I can do that whenever I want in the common room. Not that I don't appreciate the effort, but it's nothing new."

"No! Remus and Sirius were just here, sitting with Lily! Believe me!" Peter exclaimed.

"Sure buddy. Whatever you say." James chuckled, patted Peter on the head and turned to leave back to the common room. He had some transfiguration homework that he had just remembered.

On James' way back he heard some whispering coming from an alcove, an alcove that only the marauders knew of, James was sure of it. It was along a corridor which was very rarely used so naturally, James went to explore and discover who was hiding in the alcove.

Just as he creeps closer, making as little noise as possible, he recognises the voices. They belonged to none other than Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. James halted his movement to listen in better to what they were saying, he knew he probably shouldn't be spying on his friends like this, but he just couldn't help it.


	11. Chapter Sixteen and Seventeen

Sirius and Remus were wrapping up their study session, Lily decided to stay a little longer, so Remus and Sirius headed back together. On the way back Sirius grabbed Remus' hand and lead him to a deserted corridor where Sirius found an alcove and pulled Remus with him.

Remus had a confused look on his face as Sirius controlled where they walked. Standing in the alcove Remus watched Sirius as he waited for Sirius to say something or explain what was going on. A smile slowly crept onto Sirius' face as the two continued to stand there in silence, not saying anything.

"What are you smiling at?" Remus said suspiciously, breaking the silence.

"Oh, nothing." Sirius brushed it off.

"No, tell me."

"Well, it's just the fact that you haven't let go of my hand."

"Oh," Remus blushed as he tried to pull his hand away.

Sirius just held onto his hand tighter, "Don't pull your hand away."

"I thought you wanted me to."

"No, why would you think that?"

"The fact that you pointed it out and how you said it" Remus shrugged.

"Well, I don't want you too," Sirius said simply and the blush on Remus' face grew.

Unknown to both boys, James had been standing around the corner and had just managed to hear their entire conversation. Why would they be holding hands like that? Is it something best friends do? James wondered, full of curiosity.

Thinking the conversation was over, James left with the new information he had just discovered and continued his walked back to Gryffindor Tower. Along the way, he caught up with Lily who just happened to be heading back at the same time, just her luck.

"Evans!" James called out.

"Go away!!" Lily yelled as she rolled her eyes.

"No, hang on, I need to ask you something."

"Ugh, fine. What is it?" Lily was already annoyed with his presence and it had only been ten seconds, well it was twelve seconds now.

"I was just thought since you know so many things that you could help me out."

Lily was about to interrupt and say no when what James said next sparked her interest.

"It's about Remus and Sirius."

"I'm listening."

"Really! You're going to help me?"

"Depends, but hurry up. I don't have all day."

"Oh, what else are you doing today?"

"Potter! Don't push it."

'Ok, Ok! Calm down, lady."

"James Potter! I'm warning you!"

~~~

"Ok, so. What happened is, Peter saw the three of you studying together, as if that would actually happen! But anyway, he came running up to our dorm and dragged me down to the library to show me, but when we arrived it was just you sitting at the table. Peter just wasted my time, though seeing you was a nice bonus," James winked. "On the way back to Gryffindor tower I decided to walk back through a deserted corridor-"

"Hurry up will you." Lily rolled her eyes for what must have been the sixth time.

"I'm getting there, don't worry. Anyway, back to the story, as I was walking through the corridor, I heard some voices. Which I thought was strange as it was a deserted corridor, and hardly anyone knows about it. So, I decided to listen, and I heard Remus and Sirius talking!" James stopped for dramatic effect.

"What did they say?" Lily was actually interested now.

"They were talking about holding hands! What does that even mean?"

"Were they really!!" Lily said excitedly.

"Uh, yeah? But what does it mean?"

"AHHHH! I'm so happy for them! That's so amazing. Wow," Lily squealed.

James was shocked, he didn't think he had ever heard her squeal. "Did you just, squeal?"

"Never mind what I did. I have to go talk to Remus and Sirius!" Lily rushed off.

"Hey! You were supposed to explain to me what holding hands meant." But by the time James finished his sentence, Lily was long gone. That girl could run fast.

Lily burst into the common room, "Remus! Remus!"

Remus came stumbling down the stairs, "What is it, Lily?".

"Where is Sirius?"

"Up in our dorm, why?"

"Peter?"

"Uh, I don't know. Probably in the kitchen, snacking." Remus shrugged.

"So, it's only Sirius there? Fantastic." Lily exclaimed as she pulled Remus up the stairs to his dorm.

Upon entering the room, Lily quickly closed the dorm and performed a couple of locking and silencing spells on it. Hopefully, it would be enough to delay James. She then turned to face the two boys who were standing in the middle of the room. "Explain." She said as she crossed her arms, sitting down on one of the beds.

"Explain what?" Remus asked.

"Uh, Lily. You do realise that's James' bed." Sirius chuckled.

"That's not important right now, you two need to explain!" She eyed the two suspiciously.

"But you haven't even told us what you want us to explain," Remus spoke.

"Do I need to lay everything out for you too? I heard that you two were holding hands on your way back from the library!"

"Oh, that," Remus said.


	12. Chapter Eighteen and Nineteen

"Yes, Oh that," Lily said, imitating Remus.

"Hang on, how'd you know that we were holding hands?" Sirius was sceptical.

"That's not important right now, what's important is that the two of you were holding hands!"

Remus began blushing again and, in an attempt to hide it, he turned away.

"I'm not answering anything until you tell us how you knew," Sirius said defiantly.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll tell you." Lily gave in.

"See that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Lily glared at Sirius. "Well, long story short James overheard the two of you talking about holding hands."

"Okay, then. Two can play at that game. Long story short. Remus and I were walking along the corridor and our hands brushed." Sirius smirked, knowing that it was going to irritate Lily.

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you the full story. Peter caught the three of us studying together in the library and rushed to the common room to show James. Once Peter and James got to the library, you two had already left. Along the way back to the common room, somehow James heard the two of you in an alcove and heard your conversation, it was something about how Remus hadn't let go of your hand yet, Sirius. Then James ran into me, explained to me what happened and here we are."

"I told you I heard something when we were talking!" Remus exclaimed.

"Oh, it's James, he's clueless to this," Sirius said, pointing between himself and Remus.

"Sirius is right Remus. Gosh, I never thought I'd say that. Anyway, he did ask me what 'holding hands' meant."

"See?" Sirius said, raising his eyebrow at Remus.

Remus just rolled his eyes in response.

"Okay, answer up. I've waited long enough." Lily huffed.

"Fair enough. A few days ago, Sirius and I confessed to each other that we liked the other person, but before you jump up and down, we are keeping it on the down-low. We didn't want anyone else to know about it yet because we aren't going to put labels like dating or boyfriends on it yet. We decided to just keep it quiet for now. And no, we don't know how long we'll wait before telling anyone." Remus answered.

Whilst Remus was explaining everything, Lily glanced over at Sirius and as Remus said that they had decided to keep everything quiet and on the down-low, for now, Sirius' face fell very slightly. Remus did not notice; however, Lily did. Lily knew that she had to talk to Sirius about that later. Clearly there was something wrong and of course Lily had to help.

~~~

It was finally time, the O.W.L's had begun. Remus, Sirius, James and Peter were waiting ready for the Transfiguration exam to begin. Sirius and James were standing there both calm, Remus and Peter were both visibly a little stressed, but that was nothing compared to how Lily was acting. Lily was stressing and panicking a lot. Other students were trying to calm her down, but it clearly wasn't working. Remus walked over to go help calm Lily down, yet nothing he did seemed to help either. James saw that was happening and also walked over to Lily.

"James, I don't think now is the time to talk to Lily, she's already stressed enough, and you'll just stress her out more," Remus said.

Lily rolled her eyes as she saw James heading her way.

James didn't say anything and just pulled Lily into his arms and just hugged her. At first, Lily tried to resist, though she quickly gave up when she realised James was not going to let her go. Once Lily accepted the hug she began to calm down, much to everyone's surprise. James had actually managed to calm Lily down for once, rather than rile her up as he usually would.

As the group heading in to begin the exam, Sirius whispered to James, "Wow, she actually let you touch her."

"I know! And I calmed her down. I think she is beginning to like me."

"James don't get ahead of yourself. It was only a hug." Remus said, putting an end to the conversation.

The rest of the week goes by and everyone had finished exams. Whilst all the fifth year Gryffindor's were in the common room celebrating, Lily took it upon herself to find Sirius and talk to him about what happened the week before.

"Sirius." Lily began, "I wanted to check on you and how you are feeling about your relationship with Remus."

"Why, I'm really happy that with my relationship," Sirius questioned.

"I saw your reaction when Remus said that the two of you had agreed to get your relationship secret and on the down-low."

"Oh." Sirius breathed deeply as if he was trying to keep himself from letting all his emotions out and falling apart.

"Let's go somewhere else." Lily led Sirius out of the common room, and they headed up to the Astronomy Tower, one of Sirius's favourite places.

Once they reached the tower Lily continued, "Sirius, you can talk to me about this. Let your feelings out. Talk to me. You don't want to hide your relationship, do you? You want to be able to tell everyone."

"I-" Sirius broke down.

"Take your time," Lily spoke softly as she pulled Sirius down to sit against the wall and hugged him.

"When Remus and I finally figured out what we were, I wanted to tell everyone. I finally had met someone that loved me. Loved me more than a best friend. For so long I didn't have love in my life. My parents never told me things like 'I love you' or 'I'm proud of you' and then at Hogwarts I met James and Remus and Peter and I finally had people who I loved and loved me, even if it is as best friends. Now I have James who loves me as a brother, I have Peter who loves me as a best friend and then Remus who loves me as more than that, as a boyfriend, even if we haven't put those labels on our relationship. Remus and you are the only people I've told that I'm gay. That I'm anything other than straight."

Tears were now streaming down his face.

Lily, she was almost in tears herself as Sirius tightened his grip around her.

"My parents have only ever been disappointed in me and me being gay would only disappoint them more. Which makes me want to tell them even more. But Remus asked me to wait, he thinks that if I tell my parents that I'm gay James will find out and in turn Peter as well. He thinks that because of that, they'll suspect that we're dating and he isn't ready to tell anyone yet. So, I'm waiting."

At this point, Lily and Sirius were both crying and clinging to each other.

"Does Remus know this?"

"No, I don't want to tell him. I know he isn't ready, and I can wait."

"But Sirius, this is making you unhappy. You deserve happiness too. Why don't you make a compromise?"

"It's alright Lily, I can handle it."


End file.
